It’s really obvious that Sony Xperia Tablet S is positioned by the company as the flagship considering how great the specs that the tablet comes with, from its quad-core processor, great camera, awesome software and UI, premium design and its gaming performance, especially when it first came out to the market.
However, for today’s standard, compared to other living rivals across the tablet market, Sony Xperia Tablet S definitely doesn’t stand a chance to compete, especially against the iPad Air, Samsung Note 10.1 LTE, Google Nexus 10, Asus Transformer Pad TF701T or LG G Pad 8.3.

Therefore, in order to keep the company's flagship tablet relevant with other rivals on tablet market, Sony finally upgrades its 10.1-inch tablet with the new generation device, Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE.

And just like what it did with Sony Xperia Tablet S, which actually was the tablet version of the Sony Xperia S smartphone, this time around Sony Mobile also brings Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE, which also is the tablet version of its latest flagship smartphone, Sony Xperia Z.

Compared to the predecessor, then it’s really obvious that Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is just way more powerful and better than Sony Xperia Tablet S.

It has the latest powerful processor, the higher-resolution display, the better camera and many other aspects that are completely better than the original.

Well, if you’re eager to know more about this Sony’s tablet, then you can check out my personal opinion of Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE in this review.

But first things first, before reading the review of this tablet, please allow me first to give you the brief introduction of this tablet.

Introduction

For most of tablet users, tablet is considered as great if it has some of these important elements: fast performance, great experience, good quality display, long lasting battery life and the most importantly, a premium elegant design.

However, the thing is, there are not many Android tablets out there that have all of these complete elements.

Most of Android tablets, if not that great in build quality and design, they also tend to be so laggy and buggy in performance and experience.

This is the other way around with iPad.

Besides great in performance and experience (UI, well-optimized apps), this Apple’s tablet is also well known with its premium design and material.

Not to mention, iPad is also really popular as the tablet with the best camera on the market, something that has also been lacking on Android tablet market.

The good news is, now that issue has been tackled with the arrival of Sony Xperia Tablets.

Unlike other regular Android tablets out there, Sony Xperia tablets have all the elements that make them great tablets.

They have fast processor, great camera, great experience, good display, impressive battery life and the most importantly, an elegant premium design.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is one of them, or at least the latest device from this company.

Just like the predecessor, Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is also released by Sony as a flagship model from its latest tablet lineup.

In fact, this tablet is the only device that Sony releases on tablet market, although this tablet consists 2 models, the LTE and the WiFi-only models.

But the question is, compared to its competitors like iPad Air, Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 LTE or Asus Transformer Pad TF701T, does Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE have all what it takes to compete with these high-end rivals?

What Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE has to offer that other competing tablets don’t?

Well, we’re about to find out about that in this personal review.

Design

Every time Sony Mobile makes device, this company never disappoints people.

All of its Xperia devices mostly have their own characteristic one to another. And this manufacturer didn’t disappoint as well when making Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE.

Similar like the predecessor (Sony Xperia Tablet S), this Z Tablet has that elegant and gorgeous elements on its design.

I mean, compared to other competing rivals out there that mostly try to resemble the iPad or the current most popular tablets, Sony Mobile takes a different path when designing this tablet.

In fact, i’m always impressed with Sony Mobile because it never wants to copy other competitors’ products to its own devices, which is something that should be respected, right?

Not many companies have this strong principal especially in this fierce industry.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE, in my opinion, still inherits the same design language of its original, especially with its sharp edges and dark looking material that blends perfectly with the entire body, especially when its screen is being turned off.

To be honest with you, from all the tablets across the market, i personally think that Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is the only one that has the best tablet design alongside the iPad.

It has that elegant and premium feel that mostly Android tablets don’t have, even until now.

When it comes to specs, Sony Mobile always takes this sector really seriously on all of its devices, even the low-end ones (like Sony Xperia X10 Mini, X10 mini Pro, etc).

And given that Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is a high-end model from this company, then it would be weird if we saw some flaws on the one thing that has been the most critical sector for all tablet manufacturers when making their tablets.

Therefore, it’s no brainer that Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is packing the specs that top shelf tablets should have.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE comes with a 10.1-inch display sporting the resolution of 1080p or 1920x1200 pixels, which has become the standard for today’s 10-inch tablets.

In the performance sector, there is a beast quad-core Snapdragon 600, accompanied with 2GB of RAM and Adreno 320 GPU, there is also an 8.1MP camera on the back with LED flash that can do 1080p video recording, 2MP camera on the front.

And then, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean comes pre-installed (which can be upgraded to Kit Kat Android 4.4), 6000mAH power battery and the most importantly, the 4G LTE cellular connectivity.

Not to mention, similar just like the smartphone model, this Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is also equipped with IP57 certification, which makes it dust proof and water resistant, something that competitors don’t have.

Screen

Given that Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is released by Sony Mobile as a flagship model in its tablet lineup, as the successor of original Sony Xperia Tablet S, then this manufacturer just can’t compromise the quality of this tablet, especially its display.

The good thing is, this Sony’s latest tablet is already packing a high-resolution full HD 1080p display, which translates to 1920x1200 pixels.

So everything that you throw on the screen will no doubt look insanely sharp, vivid and crisp.

However, we should not forget about the fact that this tablet has that IP57 certification, which makes it dust proof and water resistant.

And according to many video reviews i’ve already seen across YouTube, the viewing angle of this tablet is not really great and the colors look washed out, similar just like what happen to the smartphone model, Sony Xperia Z, which also is a dust proof and water resistant smartphone.

So the display quality on this tablet may not be as great as other rivals like iPad Air, Google Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 or LG G Pad 8.3, that are just superior in display sector.

User Interface and Features

Similar just like the original Sony Xperia Tablet S, this Sony’s latest tablet also comes pre-installed with Sony’s homemade skins and UI, along with its bloatware, visual effects and pre-loaded apps that actually are just the duplicates of Android’s pre-loaded apps (like photo gallery, video player, etc).

But the good thing is, Sony never disappoints when it comes to the UI of its devices.

If you love the elegant look and User Interface of any Xperia devices out there, then you will definitely be in love with many things from the software of this tablet.

Performance

The performance of Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is no doubt blazing fast.

With the hardware specs like: a quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor clocked at 1.5GHz per core, 2GB of RAM and Adreno 320, this thing really flies.

Many heavy tasks on this tablet, all can be executed perfectly without any lag or hiccup whatsoever.

And the fact that this tablet is only packing a 1080p display (1920x1200 pixels), which is not a very high resolution display, it makes the tablet run much even faster and smoother in daily tasks.

Everything that you throw on this tablet, either HD movies, HD magazines, books, heavy web pages or even HD games, this tablet will handle them all without any problem.

That’s actually not much of a surprise given that Snapdragon 600 processor inside this tablet is the current top shelf processor around the market right now, alongside Snapdragon 800, Apple’s 64-bit A7 chipset or Tegra 4 SoC, which are the top mobile processors to date.

And the processor of this tablet is also made and designed to handle high-resolution display like 1080p display seamlessly.

So no wonder if this processor has no problem whatsoever to bring its best performance even in full HD display.

Besides great as a media-consumption device, the Snapdragon 600 inside this tablet also makes it a great gaming tablet, even one of the best on the market to date.

Thanks to the power from its quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, 2GB of RAM and Adreno 320 GPU, any games that you find on Google Play Store, i mean, all of them, from simple games like Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja or Temple Run 2, to even the most graphically demanding ones like Modern Combat 4, Asphalt 8: Airborne, GTA San Andreas, Dead Trigger 2, GT Racing 2 and also the next-gen games (such as: N.O.V.A 4, Modern Combat 5, Asphalt 9, etc), all will run in buttery smooth performance and the most importantly, in full graphics.

In fact, i think it’s just really easy for me to recommend you this tablet as a gaming tablet given that Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is the current top flagship from Sony Mobile and it is also the top challenger for iPad Air, Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 LTE, Asus Transformer Pad TF701T or LG G Pad 8.3.

This is actually the best thing of having a tablet with Snapdragon 600. It will be a great gaming tablet. Period.

Anyway guys, if you want to know more about the gaming performance of Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE, including what games that will run on this tablet, check out my YouTube video playlist or Pinterest page. :)

Camera

The other thing that has become the strongest point of Sony Xperia devices is definitely their camera. And since Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is a high-end flagship device, then the camera of this tablet is not gonna leave you disappointed at all.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE comes with an 8.1MP camera on the back that is capable to take HDR videos.

Too bad there is no LED flash on its back, which is pretty bummer given that it’s really important for many users, especially the ones who love taking photos at night.

Anyway, on the front, there is 2.2MP camera that is impressively able to take 1080p videos.

In terms of quality, the photos and videos taken with the camera on this tablet will surely be great quality ones, although it’s probably not as impressive as the camera on iPad Air or iPad mini 2, which both have been well-known to have the best camera on tablet market.

But at least, it can get the job done and still worth showing off to your friends or family, especially your Instagram or Twitter followers.

Besides, it might come in handy if you forgot to bring your digital camera or smartphone, right?

Battery Life

Battery life also becomes the main concern of Sony Mobile when making their devices.

This company always takes this sector really seriously and doesn’t want to disappoint users.

The good news is, Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is packing a big 6000mAh power battery (but not as huge as the battery of iPad Air, Google Nexus 10, Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 or even Acer Iconia A700 with its jaw-dropping 9800mAh battery).

So for doing some heavy stuff in mixed usage, you can still expect this tablet to last really long in a solid day, of course in full charge.

However, if you’re gonna use this tablet to do some heavy intense tasks without resting the screen whatsoever, like for watching HD movies in marathon or playing games in the row, then its battery life could probably drop much faster, especially given its full HD display and some pre-loaded apps that take make its processor consume many energy from the battery.

But this tablet could probably still last in 7 to 9 hours in that heavy intense usage, which is still considered as great for a high-end tablet.

My Personal Opinions

So to sum this up, again i must say that, it’s really really easy for me to recommend you this tablet given that it is one of the best Android tablets on the market right now, even the best alongside iPad Air.

It’s definitely great for watching HD movies, reading books or magazines, listening to music, browsing the web and the most importantly, playing games.

All the games that you find across Google Play Store can be played seamlessly without any lag whatsoever, and the most importantly, in full high graphics.

So if you happen to be a huge fan of tablet games, many latest games like Asphalt 8: Airborne, Dead Trigger 2, GTA San Andreas, Modern Combat 4, Need for Speed Most Wanted and even the next-gen games like Modern Combat 5, N.O.V.A 4, Asphalt 9, next Need for Speed game, all can be run perfectly on this tablet.

So if you’re still looking for a great media-consumption tablet, especially for gaming, and you also happen to have big budget in your pocket, then Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE definitely can be a hell of a great option for you.

It has an elegant premium design, great 8MP camera, powerful gaming performance, strong battery life and pretty much everything on this tablet is just awesome!

Disclaimer: Hi guys, bear in mind that this is not some in-depth review. So this is just like Read more...